4,878 research outputs found
Pinning of magnetic domain walls in multiferroics
The behavior of antiferromagnetic domain wall (ADW) against the background of
a periodic ferroelectric domain structure has been investigated. It has been
shown that the structure and the energy of ADW change due to the interaction
with a ferroelectric domain structure. The ferroelectric domain boundaries play
the role of pins for magnetic spins, the spin density changes in the vicinity
of ferroelectric walls. The ADW energy becomes a periodical function on a
coordinate which is the position of ADW relative to the ferroelectric domain
structure. It has been shown that the energy of the magnetic domain wall
attains minimum values when the center of the ADW coincides with the
ferroelectric wall and the periodic ferroelectric structure creates periodic
coercitivity for the ADW. The neighbouring equilibrium states of the ADW are
separated by a finite potential barrier.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
PREVALENCE AND CLINICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF MOUTH BREATHING PATIENTS IN VIÑA DEL MAR AND QUILPUÉ, CHILE
Objective: This study aimed to clinically characterize and determine the prevalence of mouth breathing in the pediatric population.Materials and methods: 383 students, aged 6 to 13 years, from public and private subsidized schools were analyzed. Clinical criteria were applied, and measurement of maximum nasal inhalation flow (PNIF) was performed to determine their breathing condition (Mouth, Nasal, or Mixed). Statistical analysis of the data was carried out through Stata SE 10.1, R-Cran 2.13.1, and Minitab 15. Results: The prevalence of mouth breathers was 18,80%, mixed breathers 17,49%, and nasal breathers 63,71%. The most common facial characteristic was the presence of eye bags (82%) and dry lips (78%). The maximum nasal inhalation flow (PNIF) average registered in mouth breathing patients was 54,4 L/min, meanwhile in nasal breathing patients was 84,7 L/min.Conclusion: Mouth-breathers are a relevant percentage of the examined population. Early intervention of pediatricians is transcendental for the diagnosis, derivation, and treatment of this syndrome in order to limit future complications
Functional regulation of FEN1 nuclease and its link to cancer
Flap endonuclease-1 (FEN1) is a member of the Rad2 structure-specific nuclease family. FEN1 possesses FEN, 5′-exonuclease and gap-endonuclease activities. The multiple nuclease activities of FEN1 allow it to participate in numerous DNA metabolic pathways, including Okazaki fragment maturation, stalled replication fork rescue, telomere maintenance, long-patch base excision repair and apoptotic DNA fragmentation. Here, we summarize the distinct roles of the different nuclease activities of FEN1 in these pathways. Recent biochemical and genetic studies indicate that FEN1 interacts with more than 30 proteins and undergoes post-translational modifications. We discuss how FEN1 is regulated via these mechanisms. Moreover, FEN1 interacts with five distinct groups of DNA metabolic proteins, allowing the nuclease to be recruited to a specific DNA metabolic complex, such as the DNA replication machinery for RNA primer removal or the DNA degradosome for apoptotic DNA fragmentation. Some FEN1 interaction partners also stimulate FEN1 nuclease activities to further ensure efficient action in processing of different DNA structures. Post-translational modifications, on the other hand, may be critical to regulate protein–protein interactions and cellular localizations of FEN1. Lastly, we also review the biological significance of FEN1 as a tumor suppressor, with an emphasis on studies of human mutations and mouse models
Low temperature structural phase transition and incommensurate lattice modulation in the spin gap compound BaCuSi2O6
Results of high resolution x-ray diffraction experiments are presented for
single crystals of the spin gap compound BaCuSiO in the temperature
range from 16 to 300 K. The data show clear evidence of a transition from the
room temperature tetragonal phase into an incommensurately modulated
orthorhombic structure below 100 K. This lattice modulation is
characterized by a resolution limited wave vector {\bf
q}=(0,0.13,0) and its 2 and 3 harmonics. The phase
transition is first order and exhibits considerable hysteresis. This
observation implies that the spin Hamiltonian representing the system is more
complex than originally thought.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Phase diagram of the ferroelectric-relaxor (1-x)PbMg(1/3)Nb(2/3)O3-xPbTiO3
Synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction measurements have been performed on
unpoled ceramic samples of (1-x)PbMg(1/3)Nb(2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 (PMN-xPT) with 30%<=
x<= 39% as a function of temperature around the morphotropic phase boundary
(MPB), which is the line separating the rhombohedral and tetragonal phases in
the phase diagram. The experiments have revealed very interesting features
previously unknown in this or related systems. The sharp and well-defined
diffraction profiles observed at high and intermediate temperatures in the
cubic and tetragonal phases, respectively, are in contrast to the broad
features encountered at low temperatures. These peculiar characteristics, which
are associated with the monoclinic phase of MC-type previously reported by Kiat
et al and Singh et al., can only be interpreted as multiple coexisting
structures with MC as the major component. An analysis of the diffraction
profiles has allowed us to properly characterize the PMN-xPT phase diagram and
to determine the stability region of the monoclinic phase, which extends from
x= 31% to x= 37% at 20 K. The complex lansdcape of observed phases points to an
energy balance between the different PMN-xPT phases which is intrinsically much
more delicate than that of related systems such as PbZr(1-x)TixO3 or
(1-x)PbZn(1/3)Nb(1/3)O3-xPbTiO3. These observations are in good accord with an
optical study of x= 33% by Xu et al., who observed monoclinic domains with
several different polar directions coexisting with rhombohedral domains, in the
same single crystal.Comment: REVTeX4, 11 pages, 10 figures embedde
Development of Ferroelectric Order in Relaxor (1-x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 - xPbTiO3
The microstructure and phase transition in relaxor ferroelectric
Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PMN) and its solid solution with PbTiO3 (PT), PMN-xPT, remain
to be one of the most puzzling issues of solid state science. In the present
work we have investigated the evolution of the phase symmetry in PMN-xPT
ceramics as a function of temperature (20 K < T < 500 K) and composition (0 <=
x <= 0.15) by means of high-resolution synchrotron x-ray diffraction.
Structural analysis based on the experimental data reveals that the
substitution of Ti^4+ for the complex B-site (Mg1/3Nb2/3)^4+ ions results in
the development of a clean rhombohedral phase at a PT-concentration as low as
5%. The results provide some new insight into the development of the
ferroelectric order in PMN-PT, which has been discussed in light of the
kinetics of polar nanoregions and the physical models of the relaxor
ferroelectrics to illustrate the structural evolution from a relaxor to a
ferroelectric state.Comment: Revised version with updated references; 9 pages, 4 figures embedde
Chiral Symmetry Breaking in Quenched Massive Strong-Coupling QED
We present results from a study of subtractive renormalization of the fermion
propagator Dyson-Schwinger equation (DSE) in massive strong-coupling quenched
QED. Results are compared for three different fermion-photon proper vertex
{\it Ans\"{a}tze\/}: bare , minimal Ball-Chiu, and
Curtis-Pennington. The procedure is straightforward to implement and
numerically stable. This is the first study in which this technique is used and
it should prove useful in future DSE studies, whenever renormalization is
required in numerical work.Comment: REVTEX 3.0, 15 pages plus 7 uuencoded PostScript figure
High pressure phases in highly piezoelectric Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3
Two novel room-temperature phase transitions are observed, via synchrotron
x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, in the Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 alloy under
hydrostatic pressures up to 16 GPa. A monoclinic (M)-to-rhombohedral (R1) phase
transition takes place around 2-3 GPa, while this R1 phase transforms into
another rhombohedral phase, R2, at about 6-7 GPa. First-principles calculations
assign the R3m and R3c symmetry to R1 and R2, respectively, and reveal that R2
acts as a pressure-induced structural bridge between the polar R3m and a
predicted antiferrodistortive R-3c phase.Comment: REVTeX, 4 pages with 3 figures embedded. Figs 1 and 3 in colo
Representation of decision-making in European agricultural agent-based models
The use of agent-based modelling approaches in ex-post and ex-ante evaluations of agricultural policies has been progressively increasing over the last few years. There are now a sufficient number of models that it is worth taking stock of the way these models have been developed. Here, we review 20 agricultural agent-based models (ABM) addressing heterogeneous decision-making processes in the context of European agriculture. The goals of this review were to i) develop a framework describing aspects of farmers' decision-making that are relevant from a farm-systems perspective, ii) reveal the current state-of-the-art in representing farmers' decision-making in the European agricultural sector, and iii) provide a critical reflection of underdeveloped research areas and on future opportunities in modelling decision-making. To compare different approaches in modelling farmers' behaviour, we focused on the European agricultural sector, which presents a specific character with its family farms, its single market and the common agricultural policy (CAP). We identified several key properties of farmers' decision-making: the multi-output nature of production; the importance of non-agricultural activities; heterogeneous household and family characteristics; and the need for concurrent short- and long-term decision-making. These properties were then used to define levels and types of decision-making mechanisms to structure a literature review. We find most models are sophisticated in the representation of farm exit and entry decisions, as well as the representation of long-term decisions and the consideration of farming styles or types using farm typologies. Considerably fewer attempts to model farmers' emotions, values, learning, risk and uncertainty or social interactions occur in the different case studies. We conclude that there is considerable scope to improve diversity in representation of decision-making and the integration of social interactions in agricultural agent-based modelling approaches by combining existing modelling approaches and promoting model inter-comparisons. Thus, this review provides a valuable entry point for agent-based modellers, agricultural systems modellers and data driven social scientists for the re-use and sharing of model components, code and data. An intensified dialogue could fertilize more coordinated and purposeful combinations and comparisons of ABM and other modelling approaches as well as better reconciliation of empirical data and theoretical foundations, which ultimately are key to developing improved models of agricultural systems.Swiss National Science Foundatio
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Multiparticle azimuthal correlations for extracting event-by-event elliptic and triangular flow in Au + Au collisions at sNN =200 GeV
We present measurements of elliptic and triangular azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles detected at forward rapidity 1<|η|<3 in Au + Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV, as a function of centrality. The multiparticle cumulant technique is used to obtain the elliptic flow coefficients v2{2},v2{4},v2{6}, and v2{8}, and triangular flow coefficients v3{2} and v3{4}. Using the small-variance limit, we estimate the mean and variance of the event-by-event v2 distribution from v2{2} and v2{4}. In a complementary analysis, we also use a folding procedure to study the distributions of v2 and v3 directly, extracting both the mean and variance. Implications for initial geometrical fluctuations and their translation into the final-state momentum distributions are discussed
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